Disagree. Teleprompters aren't going anywhere. I teleprompted from about '86 to '93. Teleprompting is a skill, much like learning a musical instrument. It's a dance between the operator and the speaker. There are only a few lines on the screen, and the speaker has to trust the operator knows your speaking cadence.

Obama used pauses because he never fully trusted the operator. Look left, phrase. Pause. Look right, phrase. Pause. I think his speechwriters tried to force concision upon him, and it always felt like he was frustrated at the paucity of words.

To be able to go off and ad-lib, and come back to the prompter, requires an astute operator and a confident speaker. That Trump does this puts him ahead of Obama, yet Trump's straight-on read is lifeless and boring until he tosses in unscripted additions. Both styles, Trump's and Obama's, drive me nuts. Obama more as listener. Trump more imagining being the poor operator flailing about backstage.